Barn Bash

      One of my professors at Florida State University (Mark Ziegler) always says the best way to improve at something is by upward social comparison; that is, associating with people better than yourself so you will be challenged and eventually improve.  That is a theory I have been embracing over the summer with my banjo playing.  I have been trying to play with as many people as possible, whenever possible.  Fortunately, the local musicians are very talented and pretty accommodating.  The other night I had the opportunity to jam with Phil Mc, Ross Wall, and Lindsey Lester, all of whom are very talented on multiple musical instruments.  It was an awesome night.  The jam took place near a barn in a farm field, the perfect setting for grassroots music.  The deafening sound of competing katydids and cicadas was drowned out by the soft twang of banjos, the rhythmic chords of guitars, and the lilting melodies of fiddles.  Most of the songs that were played early on were easy enough for me to play.  Later we moved on two songs that I could just follow along with.  Eventually the songs reached a point were I couldn't keep up, but I still enjoyed listening, and that's part of learning too.  I'll have to learn the song above.  It combines two of my favorite things, cast iron cooking and old time music  It's called "Keep my Skillet Good and Greasy,"and Ross and Lindsey have a great rendition.  Anyway, I know I have posted a lot of banjo stuff lately, but I promise I'll get some biology, hiking, paddling and herb posts up soon.  Until then, check out the rest of this post and listen to some great music.
     

      Perhaps the reason the jam was so awesome was because of the southern hospitality that went along with it.  We were celebrating a birthday, so there was great food and lots of friendly people.  Folk music, and especially old time music are communal forms of music, and are enhanced by a communal setting.  They sound their best when musicians are free to interact with each other and improvise.  The patterns of the music make it so it doesn't have to be rehearsed for everyone to join in and play along.  Everyone at the jam was very good at improvising and I hope I can develop that skill too.  Above is a good example of Phil jumping in on the fiddle.  This song is called "Tear my Still House Down."  It was a little ironic that they played this song right after everyone drank a clear, strong-smelling liquid that came out of a bottle labeled with triple X's.

      This is just a little example of how these jams work.  I was able to follow the chord progression on this song and make up a little rhythmic pattern, but I couldn't find the melody on the spot.  So I just let Ross do the banjo.